Whether there's weather or not.....

I'm still not sure if I prefer the perma-sunny climes of Southern California or the four seasons of Show Low but I gotta say, I'm enjoying the ridiculously warm "winter" this week.

We went to the park.
We went to the beach.
We're hanging out in the yard, riding bikes, picking flowers, searching for four-leaf clovers.

I got a sunburn! In February!

Back in Arizona, there's snow on the ground. We'd be trapped at home or at least restricted to a minimal amount of outdoors time.

But even while I'm sweating and tanning in February, and sort of enjoying the novelty of it, I'm still pining away for the chilly winter air, the snow angels, seeing my breath in the air.

I miss having my freshly washed hair freeze into ice dreadlocks on the walk from the house to my car.
I even sort of miss having to de-ice my windshield.

Everytime I drive my car here in sunny SoCal, I look over and see my ice scraper and wonder if I'll ever use it again.

And sure, if I wanted or needed snow so terribly I could go to Big Bear or Frazier Park or even Tahoe. But it's not the same as making a giant snowman in your front yard or sledding at noon on a snow day or having an early morning snowball fight while the kids are still in PJs or breaking off the longest icicle on the house and tossing it onto the toasty hot wood stove and watching it sizzle and crackle and melt into steam.

Wearing a tank top outdoors in February just doesn't compare.

Moved to SoCal - The Update

Apparently people ask my mother on a daily basis "How's it going with the kids?" because she makes sure to mention that she tells people everyday that things are going "fine" ... which is mom-speak for the house is still standing and noone has died yet.

She is right though, things are going fine. I approached this situation with trepidation, of course, but so far things have been just fine.

Despite the fact that in the first three days Benny broke a plate, Dylan broke a lamp and I broke a glass, things have been fine. Thank goodness noone has broken a mirror yet. Knock wood.

Mom is exceedingly happy to have been able to give up her terrible Cup-O-Soup dinner habit. I am very happy to cook every night and have someone ELSE wash the dishes. Fantastic!

The kids really love venturing out into the backyard pretty much whenever they feel the need. The yard is fully fenced and gated and totally secure unlike at the Arizona house where the yard was completely open, exceedingly large and totally open to strangers, bears, turkeys, deer, etc.

Elizabeth also just adores her new school. All the kids are super friendly, she's constantly greeting kids on the way into school and waving goodbye to new friends on the way out. It's very sweet. Her school is much closer to home now, we can walk there if we are so inclined and we have been a few times. She's also getting almost twice as many classroom hours here than she was back in Arizona, and she loves that too. Crazy kid. Loves learning. I'm truly blessed.

I am loving the shopping variety. I can actually check all the grocery mailers and find the best deals and save a ton of money on food that way, instead of getting packaged stuff at Walmart and fresh stuff at Safeway, end of story. Yes, I realize that my joy at a wider selection of grocery stores makes me A) old and B) lame and C) busted.
I'm fine with that. I get to shop at Trader Joe's, so it's all good.

We are hopeful that Bob will be able to get a job soon. There are a few opportunities we know about and he's applied for a few things and gotten in touch with the local union so...you know, we're staying positive.

All in all the arrangement is working out pretty well for us. The boys have their own room, which Benny sleeps in all night and Dylan really tries to sleep in all night. Elizabeth bunks with my mom and Bob and I have our own room. Downstairs the kids have a playroom with their own TV (for the horrible cartoons) and computers for their PBS Kids and Nick Jr. games. So they're totally happy.

I think the family member with the most joy in his heart is Sonny. He gets to lay outside in the sunshine all day, run around and play with the kids in the yard and not have to be on the tie-out at ALL anymore. He is in dog heaven.

Thanksgiving is coming up and I'm so happy that we'll all be together here. It will be different for me, I'm used to running the party back home, but I'm sure I'll get to do a lot of the cooking and frankly I use all my mom's recipes anyway so it will go over just fine.

I'm sure I just jinxed our harmony with this positive and upbeat post, but hey, I know you all wanted to know if we had killed each other yet...truth is, we haven't even come close.

And that's a good thing.

Packing sucks!

We are listing the house for sale and therefore was are clearing out all of our clutter and junk so it is presentable for potential buyers.

This is not easy. This is not fun.

I had a kick ass day of cleaning and packing and boxing up my life yesterday. Today, eh, not so much.
I'm burnt out!!

Today's mission is to get my bedroom and closet presentable for strangers to traipse through. NOT AN EASY TASK!

This will involve folding 800 piles of laundry, actually MAKING the bed every day and cleaning...my GOD the cleaning!

My first step is to go through my closet and bag up and donate ALL the clothes that I am seriously never EVER going to wear again.
This should be a doozy.

Then I will fold ALL of the laundry in the known universe AND put it all away where it belongs...that second step really is the key.

After that is all finished I'll make the bed with MATCHING pillowcases instead of what I usually do, which is whatever I grab goes on the bed!
Then vacuum vacuum vacuum. Voila!

Now, if I could just get myself away from the computer, which is much more fun than cleaning.....hmmmm, if only.

Mixed Emotions

As we are getting ready to embark on this new adventure in our lives, I've been experiencing a flood of emotions. Happiness, sadness, relief, stress, excitement, trepidation...you name it, I've felt it.

Yesterday I took a walk around my neighborhood...which in our rural area was really more of a hike. Walking through the area made me remember why we decided to move to Arizona in the first place. The smell of the pine trees on a hot day, the big blue skies, the wide open spaces. These are all things I'll definitely miss.

Today I had to take the kids to a dentist appointment. A 40 minute long cleaning appointment. It took me a half hour to get there and a half hour to get back home. It took more time just getting there and back than the length of the actual appointment. THAT I will not miss. I will not miss rutted country roads and a 15 minute drive to the grocery store or six months of snowy driving.

I'm upset that even though we were planning to make this move anyway, now we're being rushed. I'm upset that there's a clock ticking on selling the house and if we can't do it, we'll get a black mark on our credit...to join all the others....

I'm upset that we'll have to pull the kids out of school, just as they were getting settled, and move them to another state. Even though I know kids adapt easily, it's really not a theory I was interested in testing right now.

And at the same time I realize that this move will offer the kids more opportunities to do, experience and learn. My mom has already talked about getting the kids signed up for classes and sports and activities. We'll be within walking distance of my childhood park, the library, the movie theatre and perhaps most importantly Ben & Jerry's!

The summer weeks that we spend in Simi are always some of the happiest times of our year. Not ONLY because of my mom's pool either! The kids get to get out of the house, out of our isolated neighborhood and do the normal childhood things like ride bikes in the driveway and walk to the park.

While I'm really sad that it's all coming down this way, I'm also glad that we do have some place to go from here. A nicer place, a better place.

Alright you sleuthy detectives....

I can't keep anything a secret!!

So yes, fine! We're going to move away from this podunk nightmare and back to NorCal, where life is wonderful all the time.

Well, more of the time.

Our main obstacle right now is getting the house here sold, any tips are welcome. Also anyone looking to purchase or rent an approximate 1800 square foot 3 bdrm, 2 bath vacation home/family home on one acre in the beautiful White Mountains should let me know. I can let it go cheap.

OK, it's out there, phew. I feel better. I hate keeping things from you Internet. Oh, and friends.

Bob, who was initially 100 percent against the idea, now cannot wait to move away. It has more to do with being fed up with poverty and his crappy boss than anything else. Today is the first day he's worked all week AND it's only a half day AND it's bullshit grunt work AND he's beyond pissed off.

His exact quote:

"I can't WAIT to get the hell off this fucking mountain!"

I had to try to talk him down like you would a angry raging bear in the yard...backing away slooooowly, slooooooooowly all the way.

He left in a big ass huff, so, I gotta say thank goodness he's out THERE huffing and puffing and not in HERE knocking around in the house driving us all berzerker!

Yesterday we commenced Operation Fix the House Up by finally starting the tile on the bathroom shower! Yay!
Bob is doing it himself and we've had all the materials for like a year. He's already halfway done. Huzzah! It looks great.
Dylan was the helper. He helped paint the shower walls with RedGuard (it's waterproofing) and somehow ended up painting his own ass cheek. Under the diaper. Don't ask me how, I really don't want to know.

Then last night we made the monster list of all the other repairs and upgrades we need to get done. It's not terribly bad. All of it we can do ourselves and a lot of the bigger things timewise (like repaint all the walls) are not that expensive.

And that my friends is the big secret news that you all let me keep a secret for about 36 hours. Good job super sleuths.
Melting Pot here we come!